The Paleo Mama

Homegrown and Handmade

My Recipes

Green Bean Amandine

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One of my most favorite possessions is the homemade cookbook that my M0m made for me. It is filled with recipes that bring me back to my childhood and leave me thirsty for more.

One of my favorites is her Green Bean Amandine. Perfect timing to pull it out because I had just bought a huge bag of organic green beans from Costco!  The gravy that this recipe makes is so amazingly delicious!!!!!!! I’m seriously drinking the juices!

Green Bean Amandine

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Ingredients:

  • 1TB Butter/Ghee
  • 3lbs Green Beans
  • 3 cups of homemade chicken stock
  • 1/4ts pepper
  • 1/2 ts salt
  • 2TB arrowroot
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2TB fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup sliced toasted almonds

Directions:

1. Melt the butter/or ghee in a large skillet over medium/high heat. Add green beans and saute for 5 minutes.

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2. Add stock, pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

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3. Combine arrowroot and water, stir well. Stir the arrowroot mixture into the green bean mixture.

4. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute stirring constantly.

5. Remove from heat, stir in the lemon juice and sprinkle with almonds!

Yield: 8 cups

Asian “Scotch” Eggs

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I grabbed a dozen quail eggs from my local Asian market a few days ago because they were dirt cheap, but I wasn’t sure what I would do with them. I decided to boil them and stuff them inside my Asian meatballs! They turned out delish! You could also use small chicken eggs or you could just not use eggs at all and just make the meatballs! Whatever you would like!

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Ingredients:

1lb of ground beef/lamb/pork (I used beef)

4 oz of mushrooms, minced

½ cup of sweet potatoes or carrots, peeled and minced

1 small yellow onion, minced

1 TB of fish sauce (I use Red Boat)

1 TB sesame oil

1 heaping TB tomato paste

1 TB raw honey

1 TB coconut aminos (Paleo-approved soy sauce)

1 TB garlic powder or minced garlic

½ ts cumin

½ ts coriander

1 ts salt

1 ts pepper

Quail eggs, small chicken eggs, or no eggs at all!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Hard boil your quail eggs. I used my method for boiling eggs and they were easy, peasy to peel. Set your eggs in a small pot. Cover with cold water. Set on stove and turn the stove on. When the water starts to boil, remove the pot from stove and cover it with a lid. Wait 10 minutes and put the pot under cold running water. Peel while warm.

3. Mince the mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and onion. I threw them in my food processer and pulsed a few times.

4. Throw the minced veggies in a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the ground meat. Mix, then add ground meat.

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5. Mix really well with your hands. Grab your quail eggs and wrap the meat mixture around it. It’s easiest to flatten the meat out on your hand like a pancake and then fold it around the egg. Make sure it is sealed around the egg.

6. Place on a baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes.

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7. ENJOY!!!

Paleo Birthday Cupcakes

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My 3 year old is turning 4 and requested cupcakes to share with some friends. Awww, how sweet, right?!?!!! NOT!!!!!!!!!! This Paleo mama sucks at Paleo baked goods. So, I’m smiling at my adorable, little princess and thinking, “CRAP…how in the world am I going to make cupcakes?” Aha! I have almond flour and I’m pretty good with it.

Wait, does no peanuts mean no almonds? Because, if we get technical, a peanut is a legume so if you are allergic to peanuts then you probably aren’t allergic to almonds…right? I wonder…and wonder…and reach out to my Facebook fans for help.

The winning verdict: use coconut flour and don’t play with almond fire! Which by the way is so contradictory.  So, let me get this right: you can’t bring nuts to school because someone in the class is allergic to it, but you can bring gluten-laden garbage? Not fair!

Anyways, I went with a vanilla cupcake, a chocolate ganache frosting, and pink sprinkles! The only thing not Paleo was the pink sprinkles! I think I did pretty darn good! And….her little friends gobbled it up!!!

Here’s the recipes that I used…

Very Vanilla Cupcakes (using coconut flour):

Cupcake Ingredients (makes 8 cupcakes):

(click here to view the recipe)

My opinion: I was SHOCKED how moist and delicious these cupcakes are. I was debating about using another recipe that didn’t have any oil but I remember how coconut oil just sucks up moisture and I wanted to make sure the cupcakes were moist. This recipe is a KEEPER!

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Chocolate Ganache Frosting

This ganache is delicious and you can sub coconut milk for the heavy cream. I did that the last time I made it. And the author of this recipe now has a AWESOME cookbook available with TONS of recipes!

Ganache Recipe:

(click here to be taken to the recipe)

…and all this I did for my little princess ON MY BIRTHDAY! Yes, today is my birthday. However, I do get to pick out where we are going to eat for lunch. I say Vinne Van Go Go’s Pizza and some beer (***runs and hides***)!!!

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Chocolate Bacon Smoothie

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Oh YES I DID!!! I had an epiphany today. I was drinking a smoothie and eating a few pieces of bacon, and I was like, “WOAH,”…I need to put this sh*t together.” I don’t usually swear, but this is the first thing that came to my mind.

So, here is what I came up with. Don’t knock it till you try it. I thought chocolate-covered-bacon pieces was nasty until I tried it, and now I’m a believer. That salty, savori-ness mixed with that sweet, chocolate….mmmmmmmmmmm!

If you still are repulsed by the though, make it for your man for Valentine’s Day and steal a sip! 🙂

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Ingredients:

1 cup of coconut milk

1TB of cocoa powder

1TB of honey or maple syrup

1 banana

4 strips of cooked regular bacon (or 2 strips of thick bacon)

6-9 ice cubes

Directions:

It’s so difficult. Throw everything in a blender and blend till smooth! Eat with bacon on the side!

I Just Put Butter in My Coffee

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bulletproof

I’ve been hearing rumors about people putting butter in their coffee. Supposedly, this is called a Bulletproof Coffee. Why on earth would someone want to put butter in their coffee??? Well, if you have been around the “Paleo World” for long, you know that we aren’t scared of fat. In fact, we know that our bodies thrive on fat. And, butter is, essentially, cream all churned up, so why be scared?

I took the plunge! And I must say, IT IS UN-friggin-BELIEVABLE! It came out frothy, smooth, and filling! I love my coffee in the morning, in fact, it’s one thing I have always said I will never give up. I’ve given up enough in my life…my coffee is staying!

I used this recipe but I didn’t have any of the MCT Oil. I know some people use coconut oil as a substitute.

Ingredients:

(at least) 2 TB of unsalted Kerrigold Butter or other unsalted, high quality butter.

1-2 TB of MCT oil or coconut oil

2 cups of High Quality Coffee

5 Steps:

1- Make coffee as you normally would.

2- Preheat your blender by putting hot water in it while you make the coffee. I didn’t do this because I used a stick blender.

3- Empty hot water from the now pre-heated blender and add the brewed coffee, butter, and MCT oil. Blend until there is a thick layer of foam on top like a latte. A Blend-tec or Vitamix blender will do it quickly, a normal countertop blender takes longer, and a handblender works ok if you don’t have a real blender.

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4- (optional) Add cinnamon, vanilla, dark chocolate, or a sweetener like Stevia, erythritol, or xylitol (this is technically a sacrilege if you use awesome beans, but some people love their mocha…)

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5- Put on a satisfied look and enjoy the high performance buzz from your creamy mug of Bulletproof Coffee as you watch your chubby, tired coworkers eat low-fat yogurt and twigs for breakfast. It’s almost unfair.

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Green (or Red) Chile Pork Taco-Salad

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We had these last night…by chance! I had some leftover pulled pork from our previous dinner that I used with leftover Harissa pork shoulder and it was DELISH!  The flavors definitely all came together and the plantain chips on the top gave the salad that “nacho-y” crunch that I needed. Enjoy!

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Ingredients:

2 pork tenderloins

3 TB of olive oil or coconut oil, divided

1 ts ground cumin

1 ts of garlic powder

1 ts of sea salt

1 onion, sliced thin

3 cups of red or green enchilada sauce. I recommend El Pato Hot Tomato Sauce

1 ts of oregano

Garnish: cilantro, olives, cheddar cheese and sour cream (if you do dairy), romaine, tomatoes, guacamole or sliced avocado, salsa, and plantain chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Combine the cumin, garlic powder, and sea salt in a small bowl. Cut the pork in half crosswise and rub in the spice mixture all over the pork. In a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, brown both sides of the pork in 2 TB of oil. Set aside.

Placed the onion in a 9×13 baking dish. Then add the enchilada sauce and oregano. Add the pork and cover with foil. Roast for 30 minutes.

Remove pork (save juices) to cutting board and let cool. Shred or chop the pork and return to bowl with the juices.

Place the pork on top of a prepared salad and garnish with foods of your choice! `